Money Trees
On Display at The Brick Lane Gallery, 2021
Available for purchase: £120
Money Trees (Money Nah Grow ‘Pon Tree)
Polymer clay, recycled wood, and acrylic, 2021, [27cm x 26cm]
This piece was displayed at The Brick Lane Gallery for the exhibition, “Portraits and works on paper” in 2021
“Money Nah Grow ’Pon Tree,” is a testament to the generational wealth of knowledge, wisdom, culture, and hope that was bestowed upon us by those who came before us. And it is a testament to that which we hope to bestow upon those who succeed us. The piece is heavily inspired by my grandparents and the entire Windrush generation, who came to Britain in search of a better quality of life for themselves and their families. They strove to give us more than they had, encouraged us to aim higher, and pushed us to achieve things that were undreamt of in generations past.
It also speaks to the structural inequalities that render many communities unable to establish the financial generational wealth that is so desperately needed to improve their quality of life. The innumerable after-effects of colonialism and enslavement (in the British West Indies and Britain itself) are just some of the very tangible hindrances that prevented my grandparents' generation from establishing such wealth for their descendants. Issues of class in Britain further added to these hindrances, and still leave many working class people struggling to make ends meet between paydays in the present.
Adequate funding for education, housing, rehabilitation, physical/mental health services, and transportation is what stands between us, and having the freedom to thrive in this world. I truly believe that each and every one of these systems are interlinked, essential, and need to be reconsidered from the ground up. Of course, the necessary groundwork for change in these areas will take monumental shifts in social perception and government policy to achieve. They may be changes that you and I never see in our lifetimes, but like those who worked so hard to pave the way for us (despite perhaps having very little by means of tools to pave it with) we must establish a wealth of knowledge, wisdom, culture, and hope to pass on to those who will succeed us.